Kisa was momentarily confused, not understanding what he meant.

Wasn’t Bishark referring to his brother, Bishark Hillan?

What did he mean by saying that Seiard had killed him?

Removing his hand from Kisa’s bracelet, he calmly provided a supplementary explanation.

“In fact, when the legal battle was at its peak and my relationship with my relatives had reached its worst point, some of them raised such suspicions.”

Perhaps it was because of the word “murder.” His usually calm voice sounded somehow chilling.

“They claimed that my brother’s death was not an accident, but a murder, and that I was the culprit. They alleged that I, who had designs on the duke’s position and the family, had killed Bishark.”

“How could they…”

How could they make such a terrible claim? Kisa gasped.

Tap, tap, Seiard tapped the surface of the wooden table with his index finger.

“Coincidentally, they had one piece of evidence to support their suspicions.”

“What was that?”

“It was the incident where I had left Pavella Monastery without permission around the time Bishark died in the fire accident.”

“Did Seiard really do that?”

He readily nodded his head, acknowledging his mistake.

“Yes. At that time, I stayed in a city some distance from Bondsmos for a few days.”

“Why?”

“…Back then, I felt like running away anywhere. The trigger was a conflict I had with a monk named Emil.”

“Is Emil the monk who manages the pharmacy at the monastery?”

“So you know him too.”

“When I visited Pavella Monastery before, Monk Bisius explained that there was such a person while showing me the pharmacy. Unfortunately, I couldn’t meet him as he was away on a tour of nearby villages at the time.”

“Come to think of it, the time Kisa visited there last time was exactly when he was away.”

Rubbing his chin, Seiard turned his gaze back to Kisa.

“Anyway, if you heard about Monk Emil from Monk Bisius, did you also hear that there was friction between him and me?”

“A little bit.”

“Monk Bisius is quite talkative.”

“I, I asked!”

As Kisa defended her old colleague, Seiard smiled slightly.

Thanks to that, the highly tense atmosphere loosened somewhat.

“At that time, Monk Emil was the only one who directly expressed dissatisfaction with me, but I felt more hostility than that. There were quite a few people who didn’t look favorably upon me from the beginning, and on top of that, Kobi, who had been close to me, had stolen medicine and run away, so it was natural for suspicion to fall on me.”

According to him, many of the monks resented Kobi for repaying their kindness with betrayal, so the atmosphere was quite hostile.

Imagining Seiard having to face the hostility of many people alone, Kisa’s mood sank.

“So you needed a place to escape and catch your breath.”

“That’s right. So one day, I impulsively left the monastery and headed to an unfamiliar city where no one knew me. I cooled off there and then returned.”

Suddenly, his voice dropped even lower.

“…That’s the excuse I publicly gave.”

“What?”

“There’s a separate real reason.”

He loosely leaned back against the chair and looked at Kisa.

“Kobi called me there. He secretly sent me a letter using a code that only we could understand.”

“Kobi did? Why?”

“I don’t know either. Despite urgently summoning me, saying he had something important to tell me, no matter how long I waited, he never showed up.”

Seiard said he waited for days at the place Kobi had designated.

“I thought I should stop him before he went down a path of no return, but to be honest, I was more driven by pride. After all, wasn’t he the fundamental reason I found myself in a difficult position at the monastery?”

But one couldn’t wait forever for someone who didn’t show up. He had no choice but to return to Pavella Monastery without much to show for it.

“Well, as expected, the place was in quite an uproar because I had been missing for days. After all, they were receiving a considerable amount of money from the Hillan family in exchange for monitoring me. They questioned me one after another.”

“About the reason for your disappearance?”

“And where I had been. I disclosed that truthfully, but I couldn’t do the same regarding the reason for my disappearance. In a situation where I was already under suspicion due to the Kobi incident, I felt that there would be no benefit in saying I was involved with him again. It would have been different if I had persuaded Kobi to turn himself in and brought him back as originally planned.”

For that reason, Seiard said he pretended that his impulsive action was a simple act of defiance.

“The head of the monastery seemed to be pondering whether to report this matter to the Hillan family. However… not long after, he realized there was essentially no need to ponder.”

The tragic news had arrived that Bishark Hillan had unfortunately been caught in a fire and died.

The Hillan family, having suddenly lost its head, had no capacity to pay attention to Seiard’s act of defiance.

Moreover, the death of Bishark, who had died without leaving behind a child, completely changed Seiard’s situation.

“…When I heard the news that my brother, whom I had resented so much, had died, I had a strange feeling.”

With an expression and voice that was difficult to discern what emotions they contained, Seiard spoke quietly.

Kisa silently placed her hand on his hand resting on the table.

She felt like she had to do that for some reason.

As if responding to that, Seiard gripped her hand with a bit of force.

“Anyway, I hastily assumed that now that I was to become the Duke of Hillan, there would be no repercussions for my unauthorized absence that day. But my relatives were desperate to find any weakness of mine in order to seize the family’s assets, and some of them succeeded in hearing about the incident from the people at the monastery.”

A chilling air settled in Seiard’s eyes.

“They suspected me. They claimed that my whereabouts in the neighboring city at the time was a lie, and that I had actually come to the capital and harmed Bishark.”

“…They really spoke recklessly.”

“To be fair, my actions were quite suspicious. Wasn’t it such an exquisite coincidence? The fact that Bishark died during the very period I had committed an act of defiance.”

Why? Why did a passage she had seen in a diary come to mind at this very moment?

I absolutely cannot tolerate it.

So I will take it away.

Everything you have.

No, even the things you don’t have.

Recalling the outcry filled with hatred towards his twin brother, a shudder ran through her body.

‘No.’

Seiard is not that kind of person.

That was just an old grudge from his childhood, wasn’t it?

Besides, Kisa had already decided to trust him.

“But…”

Kisa looked at her lover desperately, wanting to gain certainty.

“But Seiard didn’t do that, right?”

The man, who had been quietly making eye contact with her, finally opened his mouth.

“Of course. I did not kill Bishark. I swear to God and to you.”

As expected, his face was so sincere that it was impossible to think he was lying.

As Kisa inwardly felt relieved, Seiard continued.

“Fortunately, they couldn’t publicly say that I killed my brother either. It seems they investigated in their own way by hiring people, and apparently, there were numerous testimonies from the inn where I stayed at the time, claiming they had seen me.”

The owner of the inn and several other guests had witnessed him leaving the inn once or twice a day and returning, he said.

“That’s really fortunate!”

“I didn’t particularly try to reveal my presence, but I didn’t hide it either, so it’s only natural.”

Kisa also knew from roughly gathering information from newspapers that the villa where Bishark Hillan lost his life was located near the capital.

To get to the capital from the city where Seiard stayed, one would have to travel for at least two days.

In other words, it was impossible for Seiard, who had never left the inn for more than a day, to have murdered Bishark no matter what.

“In fact, their claim was unreasonable from the beginning. Looking at the records at the time, Bishark’s death was an accident from any angle. If they had detected any signs of a crime, the royal family would have taken the lead in conducting a large-scale investigation.”

After all, it was the death of none other than the Duke of Hillan.

If there had been any suspicious indications, they could not have overlooked it.

“As they had no other means, the voices of suspicion also died down. They probably judged that there was nothing to gain from further antagonizing me unless they could prevent me from becoming the next Duke of Hillan.”

However, that did not mean that all his relatives had completely accepted it.

“There are still quite a few who harbor discontent towards me. One of them must have leaked the information to Daniel Rowens. Still, to bring out such a claim with high risk… Rowens, he must have also diligently pressed my relatives for information.”

Kisa held her forehead as her head throbbed.

She felt ashamed, thinking that Seiard had unnecessarily become entangled with such a leech-like fellow because of her.

“What should we do now? No matter what that bastard claims, Seiard’s innocence is firm, but if talks of murder come up, it will become noisy.”

A younger brother who targeted the family and took his older brother’s life. Regardless of whether it was true or not, it was a topic that would greatly excite the people of the world.

A person in their right mind would refrain from doing so, fearing retaliation from the Hillan family, but…

‘Daniel, that guy has been acting like a deranged person recently.’

It seemed difficult to expect sound judgment from him.

“It’s alright.”

But Seiard reassured Kisa as if such a thing was no big deal.

“I will take care of it, so don’t worry.”

As he always did, he spoke words that brought peace to Kisa’s heart.

“Everything will be fine.”

It was a few days later that news arrived that Daniel Rowens had fallen ill after being mugged while walking on the street.